Interview – Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Henry got to talk to Ronnie Winters ahead of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’ South African tour with Synergy Live. We’ll see Ronnie Winter on vocals, guitarists Elias Reidy and Duke Kitchens, bassist Joey Westwood and drummer Jon Wilkes take to the stage at both Synergy Live Cape Town and Johannesburg. Ronnie talked about their new album, ‘Four’, and what he eats for breakfast.

DYD: I just wanted to ask you a few questions. We hear that you guys are coming out to South Africa sometime soon. Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): Yeah, Synergy Live, it’s going to be sweet.

DYD: Are you guys pretty stocked to rock it up? Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): Absolutely! We were supposed to come out there a few years back but our label at the time messed that up, but we’re not with them any more. We got a second opportunity to make that up so we’re excited.

DYD: I can tell you that there are quite a few people seriously excited to see you guys live. Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): I’m glad to hear that!

DYD: So, you and Randy have gone through quite a few band names. How did you guys settle on Red Jumpsuit Apparatus?Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): It was kind of random. I wanted to comment on the polarity. And we liked it because it could kind of mean anything. We came up with jumpsuits and thought that was cool.

DYD: What are you looking forward to most when you come to South Africa? Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): Well, we’ve always just wanted to go to South Africa and because we couldn’t make it last time, we really just want to have the opportunity to play for our fans – we know there are a lot of them out there who just want to see us perform some of our older songs. We are mainly just looking forward to the show.

DYD: So we see that you guys have a new album coming out pretty soon. What can you tell us about it? Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): Well, it’s coming out in Summer next year. It’s called Four and that’s because it’s our fourth official studio album. It’s going to be pretty rad – we’re going back to our original producer, Dave Bendeth, who produced a lot of music on our first EP. You know, going back to a lot of the music that people used to like.

DYD: That sounds pretty exciting, because I know that quite a few people, myself included, enjoyed a lot of the music from your old albums. It will be pretty cool to hear how you’ve progressed since that first EP. Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): It’s going to be good, I can tell you that right now. That’s why everyone is in love with the work that’s been coming along and we’ve all been working hard on it. We start the actual recording in only a few months – it’s just about time to get the ball rolling.

DYD: Nice. So Ronnie, how have you and Randy managed to stay friends, brothers and band mates for so long? I mean, are there times that you get tired of each other?Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): Laughs. Yeah well, you know, we’re brothers so sometimes we argue, sometimes we fight, but at the end of the day I’d do anything for him and he’d do anything for me and we’re both very committed to the band and the music. We’ve been writing songs together since we were like eight or nine years old. We’re in our thirties now so we’ve certainly learnt how to make it work.

DYD: You guys are obviously a part of the music industry and we all know that there’s quite a bit of unsavoury stuff that goes down – has it been difficult to maintain your faith in the industry and how have you managed to stick it out? Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): Well to answer that, we basically removed ourselves from the industry about three and a half years ago. Left our label, fired everyone in management and started doing everything on our own. We’ve been very successful with that. We definitely used to see a lot of people being lied to – a lot of crazy stuff going on behind people’s backs. We just do everything on our own now and there’s nobody else who can take the credit for it. We prefer it that way and, you know, if you don’t want to be a part of it, remove yourself from it.

DYD: Okay, so I have one last question for you. It’s something that I know weighs heavily on a lot of people’s minds. What do you eat for breakfast? Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): Laughs. Well that’s a fairly simple question to answer. I guess it’s just eggs and bacon.

DYD: Ronnie, thank you so much. It’s been such a pleasure chatting to you and we’re all quite stoked to see you guys live when you hit our South African shores. Ronnie (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus): Cool man. Thanks for the call. It’s going to be pretty rad and we’ll see you in sunny South Africa.